The Minister of Social Welfare, Guillermo Sánchez, highlighted the regional government’s commitment to collaboration, while he lamented the central government’s lack of involvement in the current migration crisis in Mallorca.

The Minister of Social Welfare of the Consell de Mallorca and President of the Mallorcan Institute of Social Affairs (IMAS), Guillermo Sánchez, has expressed his satisfaction with the extraordinary line of aid that the Government of the Balearic Islands will allocate to the island councils for the care of unaccompanied foreign children and adolescents arriving in the Balearic Islands. This was agreed at a meeting held this morning between the Balearic Councillor of Social Affairs and Sports, Catalina Cirer, and the Councillor of Social Welfare, Guillermo Sánchez, in response to the current migration crisis in the Balearic Islands, which was also attended by representatives of the councils of Ibiza, Menorca and Formentera.

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IMAS will receive funding from the Govern de les Illes Balears to attend to the arrival of unaccompanied foreign minors in Mallorca

During the meeting, councillor Guillermo Sánchez insisted on the need for IMAS to have more resources to be able to attend to all the unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents who arrive on our coast. Sánchez pointed out that “the latest figures for arrivals of unaccompanied minors to our island show how Mallorca has become consolidated as a migratory route. Given this, the IMAS child and adolescent protection system has reached its limits and needs more resources. We need more economic resources to be able to provide them with the necessary attention, but also with more human resources and spaces to accommodate them”.

The councillor of Social Affairs, Catalina Cirer, presided over the meeting, which was also attended by the IMAS directors of Social Services, Childhood and Family, Apol-lònia Socias, and Centres and Programmes of Comprehensive Care for Children and Adolescents, Magdalena Ramis, as well as representatives of the island councils of Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera.

“We are grateful for the willingness of the government, the organisations and the Bishopric, who has already given us space, to tackle a problem that needs the involvement of the whole of society. We cannot say the same of the central government which, to date, has still not wanted to meet with us, after we requested an urgent meeting on 16 July. It is a sign of the lack of interest of the executive of Pedro Sánchez towards Mallorca. Therefore, once again, we ask for a serious migration policy, not focused exclusively on solidarity distribution, and a global contingency plan that takes into account the uniqueness of the Balearic Islands and its consideration as a migratory route, as well as funding to care for these minors,” said Sánchez at the close of the meeting.

Currently, IMAS has 603 children and adolescents in residential care, 303 of whom are unaccompanied minors, a figure that, as Sánchez stated, “this year there are already 164 adolescents who have arrived in Mallorca without a reference adult, a figure that leads us to believe that we will double the 180 minors who arrived throughout the year 2023. Given this evidence, the Consell de Mallorca must have more infrastructures and resources so that we can reach all children who need us, regardless of their origin”.

For this reason, last July, the Minister of Social Welfare of the Consell de Mallorca and President of IMAS, Guillermo Sánchez, formally requested more resources from the central government and initiated contacts with the Bishopric for the cession of possible spaces to house immigrant children and adolescents.